Monday, February 13, 2006

Quiz Go To Sure Was Lamb-da

Okay, I'm not even halfway through the Greek Alphabet, and quiz season ends when baseball season starts. So look for a lot of quizzes in the next month and a half.

Here's one I learned the answer to this weekend: When George Costanza says to the convict on the cover of Time, "But ya are, Blanche, ya are in the shackles," what is he making reference to? And if you don't know it and you Google the answer, please keep it to yourself. I want to see if anyone knows this.

When I first moved to New York last May, I noticed a street in my neighborhood that's closed off to cars. But not only that, it's on a hill. My first thought was "I will be sledding down this street as soon as it's coated with snow."

I didn't exactly stick to my new city's resolution, but tonight I did watch some sledders (yes, the whole neighborhood had the same idea--maybe not eight months in advance like I did, though) and half-heartedly snowboarded a few feet on a piece of cardboard. Before my borrowed camera's battery ran out, I got this shot looking up the sweet sledding hill-street:

The storm of '06. One that we'll remember all of our lives. Because it was on a Sunday. We could sit back, look out the windows. Marvel at the fact that so much snow could be produced from so little water (approx. 11/4 inches of melted precipitation. That's one and one quarter). Remember how easy it was to sweep off the car? Light and fluffy, like cotton candy bulemic. I'm finished. Take care.

In "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", Bette Davis says to Joan Crawford "But you ARE in the wheelchair, Blanche! You ARE in the chair!!!" She plays a former childstar whose career is long over, but is deluded into thinking that anyone still remembers her; Crawford plays her handicapped sister. That movie was a staple on The 4:30 Movie on Channel 7 back in the 70's.

It was great, watching it for the first time, and in the part leading up to the "Blanche" line, the Costanza thing popped into my head. Just before the moment she said the line, I said it, because I knew exactly what she was going to say, thanks to that Seinfeld episode.

Thanks, Jere. I must have seen that movie a couple of times after school; it's an absolute campfest. The funny thing is that Bette Davis plays the crazy sister, and Joan Crawford's character is supposed to be relatively sane. In real life, it sounds like it was probably just the opposite...although that might be a little too generous to Bette.